Note 21 — Chapter II · THE THEORY OF POETICAL DICTION IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Lessing’s “Laokoon,” which appeared in 1766, may in this, as in other connexions, be regarded as the first great Romantic manifesto. The limitations of poetry and the plastic arts were analysed, and the fundamental conditions to which each art must adhere, if it is to accomplish its utmost, were definitely and clearly laid down.